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Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

Definition

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common childhood disorders and can continue through adolescence and into adulthood. Symptoms include difficulty staying focused and paying attention, difficulty controlling behavior, and hyperactivity (over-activity).

Statistical Methods and Measurement Caveats

This webpage presents data from three sources.

National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH)

The CDC’s NSCH is a national cross-sectional telephone survey of children’s physical and mental health, conducted in 2003, 2007, and 2011. The NSCH was led by the National Center for Health Statistics at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under the direction and sponsorship of the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). The survey provides parent-reported data for children/adolescents with ADHD aged 4 to 17 years. Between February 2011 and June 2012, 95,677 interviews were completed. Landline and cell-phone interview completion rates were 54.1% and 41.2% respectively, with a 23.0% overall response rate.

National Comorbidity Survey Adolescent Supplement (NCS-A)

Diagnostic Assessment and Population:

The NCS-A was carried out under a cooperative agreement sponsored by NIMH to meet a request from Congress to provide national data on the prevalence and correlates of mental disorders among U.S. youth. The NCS-A was a nationally representative, face-to-face survey of 10,123 adolescents aged 13 to 18 years in the continental United States. ADHD was assessed in a subsample of 8,470 adolescents. The survey was based on a dual-frame design that included 904 adolescent residents of the households that participated in the adult U.S. National Comorbidity Survey Replication and 9,244 adolescent students selected from a nationally representative sample of 320 schools. The survey was fielded between February 2001 and January 2004. DSM-IV mental disorders were assessed using a modified version of the fully structured World Health Organization Composite International Diagnostic Interview.

Survey Non-response:

The overall adolescent non-response rate was 24.4%. This is made up of non-response rates of 14.1% in the household sample, 18.2% in the un-blinded school sample, and 77.7% in the blinded school sample. Non-response was largely due to refusal (21.3%), which in the household and un-blinded school samples came largely from parents rather than adolescents (72.3% and 81.0%, respectively). The refusals in the blinded school sample, in comparison, came almost entirely (98.1%) from parents failing to return the signed consent postcard.

National Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-R)

Diagnostic Assessment and Population:

The NCS-R is a nationally representative, face-to-face, household survey conducted between February 2001 and April 2003 with a response rate of 70.9%. DSM-IV mental disorders were assessed using a modified version of the fully structured World Health Organization Composite International Diagnostic Interview (WMH-CIDI), a fully structured lay-administered diagnostic interview that generates both International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, and DSM-IV diagnoses. The DSM-IV criteria were used here. Participants for the main interview totaled 9,282 English-speaking, non-institutionalized, civilian respondents. ADHD was assessed for a subsample of 3,199 respondents aged 18 to 44 years. The NCS-R was led by Harvard University.

Survey Non-response:

In 2001-2002, non-response was 29.1% of primary respondents and 19.6% of secondary respondents.

Reasons for non-response to interviewing include: refusal to participate (7.3% of primary, 6.3% of secondary); respondent was reluctant- too busy but did not refuse (17.7% of primary, 11.6% of secondary); circumstantial, such as intellectual developmental disability or overseas work assignment (2.0% of primary, 1.7% of secondary); and household units that were never contacted (2.0%).